Books: The Last Lion, Winston Spencer Churchill, Defender of the Realm (Vol. 3)

The Last Lion

The Last Lion, Winston Spencer Churchill, Defender of the Realm, 1940 — 1965, by William Manchester and Paul Reid (Little, Brown, $44.00, 1182 pages) — Defender of the Realm is the third and final volume of a monumental three-part biography of Winston Churchill, the first two parts of which were written by the American historian and biographer William Manchester, who unfortunately died in 2004 before he could finish the project.

What he mainly left behind were extensive “clumps” of notes, presenting his inheritor Paul Reid, a former Cox Newspapers feature writer, with the daunting task of not just wrapping things up but effectively writing the whole book.

It took Reid eight years, but most readers will find that he’s done a very respectable job.

One point, however, is worth emphasizing. Defender of the Realm is primarily a book about Churchill’s war years. Though it sets out to cover the last quarter century of the great man’s life, 1940-1965, we don’t reach VE (Victory in Europe) Day, 8 May 1945, until more than 900 pages have gone by.

While it’s certainly true that these were his finest hours, and his later life was marked by poor health, Churchill remained an important public figure and all-around colourful character after the war (including a second stint as prime minister in the 1950s), and it’s hard to escape the feeling that the lion in winter receives short shrift here.

It’s also worth noting that the focus on 1940-1945 also means that a lot of the book reads like a general chronicle of the Second World War. It’s very readable and moves at a good pace, but if you’re mainly looking for Churchill the man, his personal life, or an in-depth psychological profile, that’s not what you’ll find here. The emphasis is much more on military history: political manoeuvring, war strategy, campaigns, and battles. And while there is some criticism (Churchill could be remarkably rude and he made his share of big mistakes), overall it’s a flattering portrait of someone trying to manage a nearly impossible situation.

Times were desperate, but after it was all over he confessed that 1940, when Britain was staring into the abyss, was his favourite year.

The role of wartime leader was one he had seemingly spent his whole life preparing for, and when opportunity knocked, he positively revelled in it. He was the perfect man, perhaps the only man, to lead Britain through the crisis, and he knew it. His energy and enthusiasm for the job, qualities that helped lift the nation’s spirits, come across on nearly every page.

Churchill often said he didn’t fear the judgment of history because he intended to write it — and to a remarkable extent that’s what he did. He was a man of words as well as action. He wrote an enormous amount, and much, much more has been written about him.

Given that he was also an oversize personality, it’s fitting that he has received such a hefty tribute. And while it’s a familiar story (there have been many hefty tributes over the years), as a subject of biography Churchill seems to be inexhaustible.

There’s always more to be said about the man, and something to be gained in the retelling.

Alex Good is the editor of the literary journal Canadian Notes & Queries. He lives in Puslinch Township.